Watch First Autonomous Passenger Flight By eHang's 'Flying Car'

Chinese "flying car" maker eHang has shown off its first autonomous flight with a passenger on board. The eHang vehicle is effectively a very large multirotor "drone" (with 16 rotors) able to carry one to two people. They have done a variety of test flights without passengers, but this flight indicates a new level of confidence and development. There was only one, fairly lightweight passenger on board.

This design is the simplest of the wide variety of flying car plans out there and thus it is not surprising that it's making many of the earliest milestones. Making stable multirotor flight with modern electronics is an almost "solved" problem, so the question has been the "minor" issue of scaling it up to human size.

Many other companies are not following this strategy. Pure multirotor hover uses a lot of energy, and battery capacity is limited in these vehicles due to weight, giving them shorter ranges. This vehicle can go about 22 miles at 80mph. Longer range designs try to switch quickly to fixed-wing flight that can be very efficient but requires more complex mechanical changes. The eHang design has its rotors and effectively no other moving parts. It can survive the loss of some rotors as well, and the simplicity of the designs and the high reliability of electric motors gives it an edge in reliability.

This design also has big exposed blades right at pedestrian height. It's not doing any take-off or landing from anything that isn't cordoned off for safety, limiting where its vertiports can be. It's good for special areas and building roofs.

But it's a worthwhile demonstration of how the engineering problems of autonomous flying vehicles are being solved. There are many other problems, including noise, public acceptance and creation of the vertiports as described. Other teams are working on solutions to some of those problems. Even so, a short-range vehicle of this type is extremely useful to fly over heavy traffic, to get to places without easy access, and for police and ambulance, among other things. 22 miles is short, but still very useful, and it's going to get better, from eHang and many other companies. Those who think it's not coming are advised to look upward.

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eHang passenger vehicle

eHang

Chinese "flying car" maker eHang has shown off its first autonomous flight with a passenger on board. The eHang vehicle is effectively a very large multirotor "drone" (with 16 rotors) able to carry one to two people. They have done a variety of test flights without passengers, but this flight indicates a new level of confidence and development. There was only one, fairly lightweight passenger on board.

This design is the simplest of the wide variety of flying car plans out there and thus it is not surprising that it's making many of the earliest milestones. Making stable multirotor flight with modern electronics is an almost "solved" problem, so the question has been the "minor" issue of scaling it up to human size.

Many other companies are not following this strategy. Pure multirotor hover uses a lot of energy, and battery capacity is limited in these vehicles due to weight, giving them shorter ranges. This vehicle can go about 22 miles at 80mph. Longer range designs try to switch quickly to fixed-wing flight that can be very efficient but requires more complex mechanical changes. The eHang design has its rotors and effectively no other moving parts. It can survive the loss of some rotors as well, and the simplicity of the designs and the high reliability of electric motors gives it an edge in reliability.

This design also has big exposed blades right at pedestrian height. It's not doing any take-off or landing from anything that isn't cordoned off for safety, limiting where its vertiports can be. It's good for special areas and building roofs.

But it's a worthwhile demonstration of how the engineering problems of autonomous flying vehicles are being solved. There are many other problems, including noise, public acceptance and creation of the vertiports as described. Other teams are working on solutions to some of those problems. Even so, a short-range vehicle of this type is extremely useful to fly over heavy traffic, to get to places without easy access, and for police and ambulance, among other things. 22 miles is short, but still very useful, and it's going to get better, from eHang and many other companies. Those who think it's not coming are advised to look upward.